FSR magazine April 2018

Perspectives By Mary avant
An Oklahoma City Star on
the Rise
at just 33, restaurateur
rachel Cope has taken
OKC by storm with five
concepts that are making
a name for the region’s
budding food scene.
When Rachel cope finds a gap
in the market, her first instinct is to fill
it. And in the up-and-coming Oklahoma
City restaurant market, there have been
plenty of gaps to fill. After working frontof-house
and managerial positions in a
number of local restaurants during and
after college, Cope set out to create a concept
of her own, inspired by the famous
Home Slice Pizza in Austin, Texas.
“There wasn’t really anyone here
doing pizza by the slice,” Cope says of
her New York–style pizza joint, Empire
Slice House. The 4-year-old concept features
a menu of out-of-the-box pizzas,
from the Ghostface Killah—made with
ghost chili marinara, pepperoni, poblano,
and barbecue chips—to the Brussell
Westbrook, featuring bacon, caramelized
onions, Brussels sprouts, and
cherry pepper relish. The late-night spot
is also home to a full bar, creating a vibe
that’s hip, cool, and affordable, Cope says.
“We kind of pride ourselves on latenight
dining,” she adds. “Empire filled
the niche for a funky pizza place that’s
open late with a full bar that we definitely
had never seen in the state.”
Empire has become so popular and
profitable, in fact, that Cope was forced
to build a to-go outpost right next door
in 2017, known as Easy E Slice Shop. In
addition to offering pizza by the slice,
RestauRateuR Rachel cope’s collection of RestauRants Ranges fRom new YoRk–
style pizza at empire slice house to vegan ramen at gorō.
Easy E serves as the catering and commissary
kitchen for Empire, improving
speed and service for its pizza-loving
guests.
But before Easy E came a number
of other Cope-led concepts, the first
of which was Gorō Ramen. For years,
Cope’s chef friend Jeff Chanchaleune
operated a ramen truck in Oklahoma
City, until he and Cope dreamed up the
concept for a pop-up dinner series—
called Project Slurp—in a nearby brickand-mortar
spot. For an entire year, the
pair hosted dinners once a month, where
Chanchaleuene would whip up ramen
and other Japanese cuisine, while Cope
would experiment with fun cocktails
and drinks to pair with the food.
“Not only were we trying out Japanese
dishes and Asian dishes, we were also
testing our drinks,” Cope said. “That was
our way of testing this thought: Would
people come to a ramen shop enough to
support it and be successful?”
The answer: A resounding yes. After
selling out every dinner that year, the
duo opened Gorō Ramen in 2015 in
OKC’s Plaza District—one of only two
ramen shops in the city.
Next came Revolución, a tacos-andtequila
spot in the home of a former
auto garage. Despite the prevalence of
Tex-Mex concepts in the market, Cope
says the concept she was going for—one
that was modern and cool, with a nod
to more traditional Mexican cuisine—
was nowhere to be found. So, naturally,
she created it.
The same goes for Ponyboy, Cope’s
coffee shop by day and cocktail bar by
Chris NguyeN
72 April 2018 FOODnEWSFEED.COM